Merced rolls past Lincoln

The Merced High offense took a while to start clicking. Once the Bears got rolling, Lincoln couldn’t stop them.

Merced scored 23 points in the second quarter on its way to an impressive 33-20 win over the Trojans on Friday night in the final nonconference games for both teams at Alex Spanos Stadium.

“We just stuck to the game plan,” said Bears running back Ulonzo Gilliam. “We just trusted the script coach (Rob) Scheidt planned for us. That’s how we got going.”

Gilliam was heavily included in the game plan, carrying the ball 16 times for 132 yards and a touchdown. He also caught two passes for 63 yards.

It was a rough start for Merced quarterback Jake Foss, who threw three interceptions in the first quarter, including two by Trojans cornerback Jesse Grijalva.

However, Lincoln (2-3) couldn’t do much of anything against the Bears’ starting defense. Defensive end John Becerra sacked Trojans quarterback Colby Dickson three times.

The Trojans’ running game was shut down by the Bears’ front seven and the Lincoln offense managed just 135 yards in the first half. Merced didn’t give up a first down until the final play of the first quarter.

“That’s how we played in the second half against Clovis North,” said Scheidt, whose team improved to 2-3. “If you look at how we played against Clovis North up until that final drive, we played great on defense. That carried over to tonight.”

After Lincoln stalled in the red zone early in the second quarter, the Merced offense took over.

The Bears drove 85 yards for a touchdown with the help of a big 36-yard catch by A.J. Stewart, who wrestled a pass away from Lincoln’s Rueben Lee downfield to set up the Merced offense in Trojans territory.

Stewart’s catch helped set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Gilliam to give Merced a 10-0 lead with 7:54 left in the second quarter.

The Bears hit another big play on their next possession as Foss connected with Gilliam on a wheel route for a 58-yard gain that set up Stewart for a 26-yard field goal to extend the lead to 13-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, Stewart pooched a kick that landed at the Trojans’ 11-yard line. Merced’s Paul Scoggins dove on the ball to set up the Bears offense. One play later, Stewart made a one-handed catch for an 11-yard touchdown from Foss to give the Bears a 19-0 lead.

Foss later added a 53-yard touchdown pass to Stewart on a slant play to extend the Bears’ lead to 26-0 with 21 seconds left in the first half.

Foss rebounded from the three picks to complete 10-of-18 passes for 225 yards in the first half and finished with 241 passing yards. Stewart had 107 yards on four catches and caught two touchdowns for the second consecutive game.

“Jake’s a great kid,” Scheidt said. “After throwing a couple balls underneath, I think it just relaxed him. He just made a couple reads that weren’t there instead of checking the ball down.”

Scoggins helped the Bears put the game away in the third quarter when he returned an interception 95 yards for a score that gave Merced a 33-0 lead.

“I was just trying to help my corner,” Scoggins said. “I broke on the ball. I thought Brandon McKinney was going to pick it. He deflected it and I saw an opportunity to grab it and run.”

Lincoln’s 20 fourth-quarter points came with the Bears’ starters on the sideline.

“Maybe I need to change my philosophy,” Scheidt said. “I’m not a good up-by-33 coach. I don’t have that killer instinct. Maybe I should stop worrying about what people might think.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Merced rolls past Lincoln."